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Ukraine: Pro-Coup-Government Forces Hit Hard
The pro-federation forces in east Ukraine seem to have severely hit the coup-government's army which is attempting to surround and attack them.
The Ukrainian 79th and 24th brigades from Lviv, western Ukraine, bunched up over night in some place around Zelenopliya between the south-eastern rebel positions and the nearby Russian border. They were hit by a barrage of grad rockets fired by the pro-federation forces. First pictures available on the Internet show many destroyed vehicle – main battle tanks, APCs, trucks – probably the result of secondary (ammunition) explosions.
The not yet confirmed casualty count is 67 killed and 175 wounded government soldiers.
This major loss could lead to a new assessment of the situation by the government side and then to serious attempts to negotiate a ceasefire. It could also lead to further military escalations.
the Ukraine debacle is also affecting the International Dating business….
but as usual people are misinformed:
from A Foreign Affair:
One year ago, no one saw it coming; how growing unrest and dissatisfaction with the then President, Victor Yushenko, would lead parts of Ukraine into chaos. Dark days were ahead, days that would see protesters pitted against police, ethnically polarized citizens pitted against each other and a president ousted by the relentless rising tide of unrest. Parts of cities burned, barricades were built, and government buildings were occupied.
And then there’s what happened to Crimea.
Today, as a new President leads Ukraine out of conflict and citizens grow wary of war, few pockets of resistance remain. It shouldn’t be long now until what’s left of Ukraine is free of fighting and those holding out fold up their tents and clear the barricades away. The ink has barely dried on a new trade agreement between Ukraine and the EU, and billions of dollars and Euro’s have been pledged to help Ukraine get solvent and stay that way. True, the gas once flowing from Russia has been turned off. But it’s a matter of time before the US and Europe broker a deal with Putin to get it flowing once again. Most experts agree, it’s simply not in Russia’s best interest financially to continue to foment or support aggression in Ukraine.
The 2012 EuroCup energized revenue streams in Ukraine as hotels and apartments inflated their rates, airlines sold out, and everyone else from restaurants to taxi services made “beau coup” bucks accommodating rabid soccer fans from Donnestk to Kahrkov to Kiev and Odessa. For much of 2013, rates for services were still grossly inflated but as the political crisis grew more and more serious, traveling to Ukraine ground to a Virtual halt. One type of business, an industry that has thrived in Ukraine since the mid-90’s, has thus far weathered the political crisis, albeit not without a few lumps to the rookies: international marriage agencies.
IMA’s offer Ukrainian women a chance to meet foreign men for marriage and a new life abroad. Thousands of beautiful Ukrainian girls have been registering with web-sites like http://www.loveme.com, evocatively posting profiles and pictures in an attempt to draw the attention of thousands of men worldwide. Since it’s inception in 1994, A Foreign Affair has seen literally thousands of men from around the world meet ladies with great results. “We have thousands of couples who have met over the past 20 years,” says CEO John Adams. “And last year was one of our best in recent memory in terms of attendance on the tours and at our socials events.” Adams is not alone. The so called “mail-order-bride” business is earning millions in revenue for a handful of players in the international dating business. “We’re not the largest. There are few out there who generate a significant income from chat and correspondence schemes. We’re somewhere in the middle but happy to be one of the oldest and most successful in introducing real people to one another.” But has the political crisis in Ukraine made men wary of putting themselves in harm’s way for the sake of love? How far are American men willing go to meet a life-partner? And how are agencies faring against the downturn of events since the first Maidan protests last November?
“Men who, perhaps, have never traveled outside of the states will be more affected than those who have.” says Bud Patterson, AFA Vice President. He explains that as 50% of AFA’s client base fits into that category, extra efforts must be made to convince them to get on a plane and go. “It’s challenging in the best of times to convince guys to go to a place they’ve hardly heard of and can barely pronounce. Usually the promise of meeting so many alluring ladies get’s them off their butts, or perhaps they just feel really compelled to meet the ladies they’ve been writing to but they’re still nervous from the variety of news reports they see.” In contrast, the men traveling to Ukraine for the second or third time have little reservation. “They understand how the media tends to distort facts and many of them have friends and contacts in Ukraine who help them feel at ease. The majority of places we travel to have been almost completely unaffected by the events of the past year. Our offices continually tell us it’s life and business as usual.”
One thing’s for sure – newbies and veteran romance tour travelers alike will find large numbers of Ukrainian ladies waiting for them. Industry experts expect the number of women registering with agencies in Ukraine to increase significantly after the as the political crisis dies down. Svetlana, a 42 year old waitress from Odessa, has attended several AFA social events in the past. Asked if she thinks women are more eager than ever to leave Ukraine, she says “Unfortunately, I think this is true. Women here love their country and feel great sadness to leave it, but too much has happened since last summer. Before, it was hard to find a husband but you could work and make ends meet and raise your children. Times were hard here and there but you could get by. After this, nothing is certain about our lives anymore. I’d rather find my husband and start over somewhere else.” AFA reports a noticeable increase in attendance by women of all ages at last April’s social events in the eastern cities of Lugansk, Mariupol and Zaparozhye.
There are over one hundred independently owned international marriage agencies in Ukraine today. Though many who opened their doors only in the past few years are now struggling to keep them open, the older and more established businesses have been resilient. “We were doing tours years ago during the Orange Revolution,” says Adams, “and those events didn’t stop us or slow us down. As long as clients and staff are reasonably assured to be safe, we will definitely keep going to Ukraine.”
Posted by: brian | Jul 12 2014 1:21 utc | 39
Tony Cartalucci on Southstream and EU (from Strategic Culture):
Toward a Europe Whole and Free (To Loot)
When the special interests who created and direct the agenda of the European Union disagree with member states, the true nature of this supranational enterprise becomes painfully apparent – one of dictatorial special interests pursing regional policy that benefits none of its individual member states. No example of this can be clearer than the dispute that has emerged over the construction of Russia’s South Stream natural gas pipeline set to run through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, and Italy.
The pipeline produces a large number of benefits for each of the nations it passes through, as well as for energy markets on either end of the pipeline. For the people and governments of these nations set to benefit most from the pipeline, the deal is an attractive, long-term investment. For the special interests that have created and currently direct the EU – on the other hand – it poses as a direct threat to their designs of continued expansion and corporate-financier hegemony beyond the collective borders of today’s EU.
For the hegemon, coexistence and collaboration are not options – thus the benefits of the South Stream pipeline escape them. Instead, these hegemonic special interests seek to control their own pipeline and energy markets on either side of it, and this can be seen developing along several fronts including the Southern Corridor Project, beginning in Azerbaijan along the Caspian Sea.
Energy and foreign policy expert Sinan Ulgen of the US government and corporate-financier funded Carnegie Europe think-tank complained about the disparity between the EU Commission’s stance, and that of individual EU member states in an Anadolu Agency (AA) article titled, “Russian South Stream gas pipeline divides EU,” stating:
“…the EU’s main concern about South Stream is that the project would increase its dependence on Russian gas. Last year a third of its consumed gas was supplied by Russia.
Additionally the AA article would state:
While the European Commission opposes Russia’s South Stream gas pipeline project, certain EU countries like Austria and Italy continue to openly support the world’s most expensive pipeline project, which aims to transport Russian gas by bypassing Ukraine.
For the last two years, Russia has signed bilateral agreements with Italy, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia, Austria and Croatia for the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline, which is estimated to cost nearly US$40 billion according to the Moscow Times. Gazprom recently announced however that it was abandoning construction of the Italian portion of the pipeline.
These agreements were deemed a breach of EU anti-trust law by the European Commission in December. And, in April, following the annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Russia, the European Parliament voted for the South Stream project to be stopped.
AA would also cite another corporate-financier funded think tank, Chatham House – also complaining about EU members pursuing their own interests in contradiction to the EU Commission’s dictates. The unelected EU Commission appears to be pursing its own extraterritorial geopolitical pursuits ahead of those of the individual member states and their respective populations. That corporate-financier funded “think tanks” are focused on this “divide” and championing the EU Commission’s agenda over that of the individual EU members it allegedly represents fully exposes the EU for what it truly is, a dysfunctional supranational dictatorship.
And what is done in the name of the EU by its institutions like the EU Commission, which admittedly does not represent the best interests or desires of those it claims to represent, unfortunately and perhaps unfairly reflects on the EU as a whole. For example, and as part of the energy debate, the current EU support of the regime occupying Kiev, Ukraine, taints all of Europe, even as many EU member states attempt to move cautiously or even in opposition to the greater agenda the EU Commission and others are pursuing.
While the EU promotes itself as a bastion of freedom, stability, and prosperity, it appears increasingly more like a hegemonic bloc, dictating to, rather than acting as a representative of, the European people. The slogan “Toward a Europe Whole and Free” rings hollow when the EU Commission begins dictating policy to individual states, and curtailing progress that benefits both individual nations and their people.
The EU, in this light, appears more of an autocratic oligarchical consolidation of regional power and resources, not a democratic collaboration between nations. A slogan like “Toward a Europe Whole and Free” appears then to represent Europe, but only from the perspective of special interests seeking to loot the region collectively, rather than nation-by-nation. The dysfunction and dictatorial nature of the EU Commission and other apparatuses within the supranational bloc serve as a cautionary example for other nations seeking to construct their own alliances – from Asia’s ASEAN-AEC (Asian Economic Community), to regional alliances between Russia, China and with nations along their peripheries.
Alliances that include obligations that usurp national sovereignty are not alliances at all, they are hegemonic infiltration by special interests who would rather see a village place their valuables in a single safe for them to crack and loot, rather than take the time and trouble to rob each individual home. Europe must decide whether it will continue along a path of internal conflict with its alleged EU representatives tainting their collective populations, cultures, and histories, or reform the EU into an institution that allows collaboration and national sovereignty to exist in tandem.
Tony Cartalucci, “New Eastern Outlook”
Posted by: okie farmer | Jul 13 2014 10:33 utc | 78
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